Crunchyroll Raises Subscription Price for the First Time Since Launch

Anime has carved out a larger presence in pop culture than it has ever seen in the last few years, and much of that is due to services like Crunchyroll that make legally watching new anime episodes much easier than ever. The streaming service has seen significant changes ever since its launch in 2006, and soon paying members will see an increase in their subscription rate.

Crunchyroll announced that their monthly rate for Premium members of their service will be increasing from $6.95 to $7.99 USD a month. This marks the very first price increase to the service since its launch years ago, and will go into effect for new subscribers on May 1.

Current Premium subscribers will have the current $6.95 USD locked down until August 1, and members who have pre-paid for a year of the service will not see a change in their pricing. Crunchyroll explained the increase in a statement to Variety:

"Crunchyroll has the world's largest collection of anime and we are grateful to have focused on building out such a robust library for over the last decade, without a significant price change in our company history...However, due to rising costs of content and infrastructure, now is the time to introduce new subscription pricing." Adding that, "This price increase will help us bring our community more of their favorite shows, allowing us to create even more experiences for them to connect with each other and through shared passion for anime."

Crunchyroll's Premium subscription allows access to each new anime episode as they simulcast from Japan in HD and without advertisements. There have been no announced changes to the free version of the streaming service (which allows watching episodes roughly a week after they air with ad breaks), nor has there been an announced change to the bundled VRV pricing of $9.99 USD.

How do you feel about Crunchyroll's new pricing? Does it make a huge difference to you, or is the increase not enough to change your budgeting? Let us know how you feel about this in the comments or talk to me on Twitter @Valdezology!

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